Life Skills Through Drama Consultant - Wpe

 1.     Background and Rationale During an internal assessment of adolescent girls’ needs conducted in February and March 2014 in Lebanon, the IRC identified groups of extremely vulnerable segments of adolescent girls who are currently unable to access services and activities for adolescent girls offered at the IRC’s Women and Girls’ Community Centers (WGCC).  These groups included adolescent girls who work in agriculture and other types of low paid labour, married girls and adolescent mothers. The levels of psychosocial distress observed amongst these specific groups during the assessments were considerably higher than those of girls who are able to access education or can regularly attend psychosocial and skill-building activities at the WGCCs, and their isolation and lack of support networks appeared evident. At the same time, it was clear that girls living in these conditions would not be able to attend activities at the WGCCs regardless of any potential adjustments made to the activities as they face a multitude of barriers to access due to having responsibilities in the household (for married girls and adolescent mothers) and responsibilities at work, which involves up to 13 hours of labour a day, with no day off, these girls in particular lack free time to engage in activities based at the centre.  This, combined with the other barriers they face around gendered cultural restrictions imposed on them by family and other community members and fear of sexual harassment and discrimination makes these girls in particular incredibly vulnerable and hard to reach and is a group that is not currently being reached by the WGCCs. As a result,  the IRC is planning to adapt its life-skills curriculum for adolescent girls, “My Safety, My Wellbeing”, to be delivered through mobile service provision. The IRC believes that the use of drama-based techniques in conjunction with a solid life-skill curriculum focused on risk reduction and safety planning delivered through mobile service delivery will be particularly beneficial to the extremely vulnerable adolescent girls identified during the assessment. Using this methodology will enable us to adapt the curriculum to ensure it is accessible to girls with varying levels of literacy (which we understand to be lower in the Informal Tented Settlements compared to the girls accessing the WGCCs). It will also provide a creative and interactive outlet for these girls who are incredibly isolated and in need of both information and recreational activities. Given the environment in many of the mobile locations and lack of facilities (like the WGCCs) this method will enable us to implement the curriculum in an adaptable way that will not impact on the quality of the learning.  2.     Purpose of the Consultancy The consultant will be engaged to adapt the curriculum to the mobile service delivery approach using drama-based techniques; pilot the four/six modules with a specific group of working girls identified at the time of the assessment alongside IRC staff, and through a combination of training and mentoring, build the skills and capacity of IRC Women’s Protection and Empowerment staff to facilitate drama-based activities. Key tasks: Lead in the development of a curriculum adapted for mobile service delivery using drama based techniques. Integrate creative techniques for psychosocial activities as the core methodology of implementation of the four/six mobile modules. Lead in the training and mentoring of key staff on the implementation of the curriculum and on core drama techniques.    3.     Proposed Outputs Drama-based “My Safety, My Wellbeing” curriculum designed for mobile service delivery which will consist of between 4-6 modules on key topics taken from the centre based curriculum. Training of focal points within the IRC WPE team (Adolescent Girls Officers and mobile team members), as well as representatives from Save the Children and Mercy Corps in Lebanon, in the use of drama-based techniques for psychosocial and life-skills activities Adapted “My Safety, My Wellbeing”  curriculum piloted with at least one group of extremely vulnerable adolescent girls through mobile service delivery  4.      Conditions of the Consultancy The consultant will work in coordination with the Adolescent Girls Specialist based in Beirut. All curricula and materials designed and produced under this consultancy will be property of the IRC. 5.     Timeframe Task No. of days Timeline -          Adaptation and development of ‘My Safety, My Wellbeing’ curriculum for mobile service delivery 12     September 2014 -          Piloting (x2 sessions a day with different age groups) in Bekaa and Akkar 4 October 2014 -          Review and adaptation of curriculum after pilot 2   October 2014 -          Drama techniques workshop for WPE, Mercy Corps, Save the Children staff 3 October 2014 -          Training on the adapted curriculum for WPE, Mercy Corps and Save the Children staff 3 October 2014 -          Mentoring of staff in Bekaa, Tripoli 5 and Akkar 5 November 2014 -          Roundtable discussion with Mercy Corps and Save the Children 1 December 2014 Total days 30